The Power in and of Labour Relations

Abstract

Workplaces are key sites for encounters between migrants and residents and are fundamental for constructions of power relations and identities. In Angola, there are striking continuities between the social relations of labour during the colonial period and the relations of power between Angolans and Portuguese at workplaces in contemporary Luanda. This chapter opens with a representation of the organisation of work in colonial Angola and shows how this interplayed with colonial identities and hierarchies. Thereafter, it discusses contemporary Portuguese-Angolan relations through analysing workplace hierarchies and economic inequalities. It also shows that contacts between Angolans and Portuguese in Luanda generally are limited to the workplace, which arguably enforces the distance between the two groups as well as the continuous difference in social status.